Screenwriter David S Goyer announces Emergence, a ‘collaboratively-built entertainment franchise’

David S Goyer Emergence
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What’s the future of storytelling? For The Dark Knight screenwriter David S Goyer, it’s Emergence – a new platform that employs AI and the blockchain.


Previously better known as the writer behind such comic book movies as Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and Man Of Steel, David S Goyer has moved into the tech arena with something called Emergence. It’s billed as the “first ever collaboratively-built entertainment franchise” in which other writers and artists will be able to contribute to its creative direction.

In a video announcing the venture (see below), Emergence is described as “a new sci-fi universe” and a “creative sandbox”. Goyer and his collaborators have established a broader backstory – about a galaxy in which mysterious, powerful objects tumble out of an inter-dimensional portal – while other people will eventually be able to step in and add characters and narrative detail. Those stories will then be able to be told in different media, including animation, podcasts and graphic novels.

If that sounds rather vague, then that’s because the details surrounding Emergence are also rather difficult to pin down. The ‘franchise’ is built on something called Incention – a platform which employs blockchain technology and a large language model to somehow help creators make and profit from their work.

What does Incention look like? What sort of tools – beyond a “swarm of AI agents” designed to “handle mundane tasks and administrative slog” – will it offer? Incention’s website is high on slogans and jargon and low on specific detail.

There’s a section, for example, headed ‘Ignite IP’, which reads, “Dust off the once-loved DVDs to give them new life – with the help of a passionate and talented community of creators.”

Another section reads, “We deliberately craft solutions to cut through complexity and create more value for everyone.”

Sentences like those and others like them beg more questions than they answer.

Incention notably employs two much-hyped technologies. Blockchain is at the heart of the assorted cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens that have attracted small armies of acolytes who claim they’re the future of finance. AI is the catch-all term for a string of applications and business ventures, including chatbots, image generators and deep learning systems.

Given the amount of hot air and financially questionable activities surrounding crypto and AI, then, you’ll forgive us if we’re writing this with a note of scepticism. In a ‘manifesto’, the creators of Incention argue that its new platform will provide a solution for an entertainment industry threatened by the emergence of generative AI:

“The entertainment industry stands at a crossroads. As AI generates an endless stream of content, traditional entertainment grapples with an existential crisis: How do we preserve human creativity while harnessing the power of modern technology? The answer is not in resistance but in collaboration and shared upside.”

Incention will, its creators say, use an “ethically” trained large-language model to help give “anyone the ability to generate new stories,” while AI agents will help users “create multi-billion dollar franchises.”

Blockchain technology will allow users to monetise their work in some way, as well as “protect against unauthorised use”.

It all sounds utopian enough, and having the involvement of a noted industry figure like David S Goyer might imply there’s something to Incention’s claims.

According to Deadline, though, which ran a lengthy piece on Emergence, Incention’s CEO and co-founder is Chase Rosenblatt. Approximately two years ago, Rosenblatt was also at the helm of another Incention venture called Adimverse, a “network of storytellers creating characters and IP collectively owned by the communities who develop them.

In a 2023 piece on the website Culture3, Adimverse (also simply called Adim) was described as being “the brainchild of actor Robert McElhenney” – the star of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia and co-owner of Welsh football team Wrexham AFC.

Adim still seems to be going, though take-up in the platform seems to be rather low, at least if the number of projects listed on its site is any yardstick. The project’s X/Twitter page also looks rather quiet, with its bio simply telling users to visit Incention’s main account.

Will David S Goyer’s Emergence gain traction? Can Incention deliver on its promise of an AI-driven, blockchain-powered platform that will save Hollywood from oblivion? Given that the venture has been announced just as the world’s tech stocks have gone into fright mode, we’d the timing seems rather unfortunate.

We will watch its progress with interest.

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